A Decepticon Deception
by Sailor Centauri
Summary: The Bullet Trains are captured by the Decepticons, who intend to trick the rest of the autobots. The question is, will their deception succeed or will it not?
1. Netted

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the autobots, decepticons or predacons, they belong to their creaters. The only ones i own are the customs i have mentioned in Right off the Production Line.  
  
An explosion ripped the sky open, lighting it up with colour. Oranges, yellows and reds rippled though the air and smoke rose on the wind, billowing like clouds. The predacons were once again attacking trains, only this time they were attacking bullet trains attempting to lure out or find out team bullet train.   
"This is annoying," moaned Slapper. "I'd've thought those bullet trains would've been here by now."  
"Stop your whining and keep attacking," Sky Byte told him. Slapper moaned even more and went off to find another bullet train to attack.  
  
Not long later Gas Skunk was busy attacking another bullet train. He picked it up off the floor and began to wave it around in the air. The creaking and groaning coming from the bullet train was painful on his ears, annoying him.   
"Noisy things," he grunted. It wasn't long before the sound of wheels on track could be heard coming in their direction. He listened hard and it wasn't difficult to deduct that the bullet trains were coming.  
  
The bullet trains had heard of all the problems the predacons were causing on the railway again. The last time it had been just normal trains looking for energy, now they were attacking fellow bullet trains and even though they were inanimate that still struck a nerve with the three-team members. Rail Spike led the three of them towards Gas Skunk who had since contacted the other predacons. Rapid Run and Midnight Express were close to his bumper, their wheels pounding the rails.  
"I am going to make those predacons regret this," Rapid Run announced as they arrived on the scene. The three trains looked around but could see nobody. Midnight Express felt somewhat exasperated, they'd come all this way exhausting themselves and for obviously no reason. The young bullet train transformed and folded his arms.  
"Time wasting predacons," he scowled.   
"Now, now," soothed Rail Spike transforming. "I know you raced here leaving your passengers and nearly exhausted yourself, but you can't let it bother you."  
"Easy for you to say Rail Spike," Rapid Run informed him as he transformed. "But you didn't just do that. You were on a break." Rail Spike sighed. Rookies, he thought to himself. He turned and took a couple of steps back down the track and looked around.  
"No use waiting around, come on let's get back to work." He transformed and was just heading off when Sky Byte appeared in front of him. He looked down at him with a grin. Rapid Run and Midnight Express whirled around as they herd his feet come into contact with the tracks. Rail Spike transformed back into robot mode and his partners came up on either side of him.  
"What are you doing here fish breath?" demanded Rail Spike. Sky Byte chuckled.  
"I'm here for you of course." The three bullet trains readied themselves for battle but found themselves surrounded by the remaining predacons. They looked around but weren't phased, they were much stronger then these four. That was until they heard the sound of rotor blades on the horizon. Looking up they saw Ro-tor coming towards them then Mo-vor appeared beside him.   
"What are they here for?" asked Rapid Run.  
"Whatever it is, you can better it's not good," Rail Spike responded.  
"You got that right," responded Gas Skunk as he opened his mouth. A large cloud of yellowy orange gaseous smoke billowed out surrounding the three bullet trains. While the three of them coughed and attempted to find their way out of the smoke screen, the predacons moved out of the way and the two decepticons flew over, finally dropping two large energon nets into the smoke. The smoke soon cleared and the bullet trains lay sprawled across the tracks, trapped under the net. They couldn't get free no matter how much they struggled.  
"Let us out of here," Midnight Express demanded. Mo-vor and Ro-tor moved in and picked them up.  
"Not in this life time," laughed Mo-vor. The three trains struggled as they were lifted into the air.  
"I can't get through to the others," Rapid Run informed his teammates.   
"Ditto," agreed Rail Spike.  
  
  
  
  
  
Chapter 2 coming soon. 


	2. A Mystery Deception

Hours later, Optimus had all the autobot teams out searching for the missing trains. They were searching everywhere, junkyards, abandoned stations, warehouses, but there was no sign of them. The moment their long absence had been noticed Optimus had ordered the autobot brothers to go to their last known coordinates immediately, and all they'd found was a trashed bullet train, thankfully it wasn't any member of team bullet train. Since then they'd been patrolling all tracks and stations with no luck. The build team, Spectrum, Tracker and the classicon brothers were searching the far reaches of the city. The V-Bikes, Tow Line and the spy changers were searching the closer and off road regions with less luck then anyone else. The Try Spy Bot team were tracking from certain areas positive if there were any sign of the bullet trains they'd pick them up. And finally their three flying support autobots were covering every inch of the city from the air, and were ready to alert the others if they sighted the missing team. Sky Line sighed and hovered over a junkyard while Night Spy circled for a scan.  
"Anything?" he asked tiredly.  
"Not even a set of train wheels," she responded flying past him.  
"Sky Line to base," he called over his radio. "Sector beta eight covered with nothing found."  
"Thank you Sky Line," Tai's voice responded. The radio went off and they flew off to check another area.  
  
At another station some miles away the autobot brothers were watching for any sign of them, but all they'd seen were freight trains.  
"This is ridiculous," muttered Side Burn. "How do you lose three huge bullet trains?"  
"Same way YOU lose concentration when you see a red sports car," Prowl informed him. X-Brawn chuckled as Side Burn scowled in response to Prowls comment. Another freight train passed by and that was the last one for this particular station.  
"Come on, you two," X-Brawn called starting his engines up. "Let's go, we still have another dozen stations to cover."  
"A dozen," groaned Side Burn. "Urge." He started his engines anyway and drove off after his older brother. Prowl drove behind them, making sure to keep a good, safe driving distance between himself and Side Burn.  
  
A groan came from Shades as the biggest of the teams searched yet another stretch of road. They'd been searching for hours but there was no sign of the bullet trains.  
"Why are we looking here?" he asked finally. "It's a road leading to the middle of nowhere."  
"Shade's stop moaning," High Class scolded. "You're starting to sound like Side Burn." Shades systems flushed and he blushed a little. High Class and the others laughed.  
"That shut him up," grinned their little brother, Cruiser. Shades clipped his bumper sharply causing the smaller and younger autobot to veer and nearly knock Tracker off the road.  
"Hey!" the two exclaimed simultaneously. Heavy Load chuckled.  
"You act more like kids then battle hardened autobots," he commented. That earned him a sharp nudge from the two younger classicon brothers, but it didn't phase him much being his size. The rest of the journey was passed in silence, and finally coming to a split in the road, the team split up and took the different ways. The build team took the rougher terrain road with Tracker, while Spectrum and the brothers went the other way. They kept in touch as they went, but there neither had any luck.   
  
Closer to home but on the rough desert roads/tracks, the V-Bike team, Tow Line and the spy changers had had to split up to cover the enormous space. Tow Line and the bikes weren't enjoying themselves, they had come across that much rocky terrain that their suspensions and wheels were being damaged as they tried to trans guess it. Numerous complaints flew from the five autobots, as stray rocks thrown up from the ones in front hit the ones behind. More moans came as rocks dug into their wheels, and their suspensions buckled as they bounced along.  
"I know we can…handle off road…patrols," Ricochet stuttered as she bounced across a set of jagged rocks. "But this is…too…much."  
"Ouch!" exclaimed Breaker. "I think my suspension has finally gone."  
"My shocks have…totally had it," exclaimed Tow Line. Deeper in the desert in the opposite direction, the spy changers had it easier, the road wasn't as bad, in fact there was actually a road to trans guess. Mirage hit a small rock with his back tyre, which immediately flew up and into Iron Hides windscreen.  
"Watch it Mirage!" he exclaimed.  
"Sorry," his friend called back.  
"I wonder how the rest of the team are doing," REV wondered aloud.   
"Let's check," WARS responded. His radio crackled on and he called through it to the other team.  
"Breaker, how are things going with you?"  
"Ouch, terrible," responded the oldest V-Bike. "The road is too rough for us."  
"You bikes are built for it," argued Mirage.  
"Not for this much abuse we're not," squeaked Rebounds voice. The other spy changers chuckled. Rebound was the one V-Bike team-member who had been specifically built for off road, the others were just good at it because of their tough cybertronian bodies and wheels.   
"Ok," WARS responded. "We'll contact you again later to check progress."  
"Understood," Breaker responded and the radio went off.  
  
Meanwhile the predacons and decepticons were holding the three bullet trains prisoner deep in the desert. They were bound by energon chains, and were unable to break free. The predacons were guarding them while the decepticons worked on their hologram projector. The bullet trains were watching them, wondering what was going on, but all they could assume was that they were planning to trap the remaining autobots with holographic projections of them, and with them captured it would be a simple task.   
"What ARE we going to do?" asked Midnight Express in a whisper.  
"Unless we can get these energon chains off, nothing," Rail Spike informed him.  
"If only we could fire one of our weapons at that machine," Rapid Run deduced.  
"Good idea kiddo," Rail Spike informed him. "And how do you plan to reach your weapon tied up?"  
"I said IF," Rapid Run reiterated.   
"Please gentlemen," Midnight Express interrupted, seeing the two were about to argue their points. "Can we work our personal problems out later? We really need to get out of here."  
"He's right," Rail Spike whispered giving in. Rapid Run nodded. Just then Sky Byte walked over to them and looked down folding his arms.  
"Comfortable gentlemen," he grinned mimicking Midnight Express's voice and much used phrase. Midnight's systems heated up slightly, he hated that. Rapid Run nudged the youngest teammate gently, and he calmed himself down, it would do no good right now to blow off steam even though it would actually feel good. Sky Byte chuckled as he saw they weren't about to respond and turning around he walked off. The trains relaxed a little bit and kept right on watching their enemies.   
  
  
  
  
  
Chapter 3 coming soon. 


	3. Deception Revealed

The other autobots had since returned to headquarters, having had no luck what so ever. Tow Line and the bikes had actually given their information as soon as possible and had disappeared into the repair bay, and gotten to work fixing their damaged wheels and suspensions and in Tow Lines case, his shocks. Optimus sighed as he leant against the wall and folded his arms. The others remained quiet, they knew he was thinking and never interrupted when he was. Tai and Koji, who had just arrived with the autobot brothers, were standing near the computer panel. Tai had her arms behind her back in a respectable silence and Koji was leaning against the panel with his arms folded, waiting to see what Optimus was going to do or say. There was only one thing they were sure about though, and that was that they had been captured by the predacons and decepticons. Finally the autobot leader stood up straight and unfolded his arms.  
"I haven't a clue as to what we're going to do." Exasperated sighs escaped from everyone hearing those words. Koji looked up at him and spoke,  
"Surely Optimus you'll keep looking for them, I mean they're a vital part of your team not to mention some of the strongest autobots."  
"Even strong autobots are vulnerable Koji," Prowl told him. Koji sighed and folded his arms looking defeated. The sound of approaching footsteps echoed a little in the base as Rebound and her younger brother walked in. The wheels on their legs had been repaired after the damage they had taken, and there was no longer the sound of clicks from their damaged suspensions.   
"So, did any suggestions fly?" asked Rebound.  
"Not even one," responded Side Burn. The two bikes sighed as their older siblings joined them. Breaker and Ricochet were also fixed up, and so was Tow Line as he came into the room, his shocks completely repaired. They gave the two younger bikes a look, but as soon as they shook their heads they knew things were worse then before.  
"We could do a sky search again," Masquerade offered. "Maybe we could see if we missed anything."  
"Yeah," agreed Night Spy. "I could try using my radar."  
"We could use our sound locaters if Masquerade and Sky Line took us up with them," added the Tri Spy's. Optimus shook his head.  
"We already tried things like that and nothing." He sighed and looked at turning looked at the screens. The others watched him quietly, unable to believe that their leader had no idea as to what to do. Side Burn was about to make a comment but kept quiet, knowing it was inappropriate. But Optimus was a step ahead of him anyway.  
"Go ahead Side Burn." Side Burn looked towards him.  
"It's a bad idea Optimus, forget about it."  
"Come on, any ideas would be good about now," Wedge informed him. Side Burn took a deep breath and began,  
"Why don't we ask Ultra Magnas for help?" The moment he finished he knew he'd said the wrong thing; the others all had a bit of a sore spot for Ultra Magnas. He'd helped them before but he was always out to get rid of Optimus, and that caused tension between him and the other autobots, especially the brothers and he'd helped them more then once. Optimus was quiet for quite a long time and Side Burn was almost sure he'd offended him, but that soon changed as Optimus activated one of the computer panels. The radio crackled to life and he called over it,  
"Ultra Magnas, this is Optimus Prime come in." At first there was no response but then Ultra Magnas's image appeared on the screen, and as usual he was frowning, that never changed.  
"What do you want Prime?" he asked gruffly.  
"Your help Magnas," he responded. "Team bullet train are missing and we can't find a trace of them." Ultra Magnas snorted.  
"Losing your own team now are you?" he asked. "You sure you're cut out to be leading the autobots?" Optimus ignored his comment and went on anyway.  
"Magnas I am asking for your help, not ordering it, just help us find them, please." It was hard for him to act like this in front of his team, a big strong autobot asking for help when he was supposed to be able to handle things like this without problem. The others felt bad for him, no more so then Side Burn. Magnas was a nasty piece of work sometimes, especially for an autobot. He was beginning to wish he hadn't thought of this idea now. Ultra Magnas looked back at Optimus for a minute or two and finally gave in.  
"Alright Prime, I'll help you."  
"Thank you Magnas." Ultra Magnas snorted and the screen went blank and the radio shut off at the same time.   
"Optimus I am sorry," Side Burn piped up. "I shouldn't have…" Optimus raised his hand to cut him off.  
"No Side Burn it was an idea, much more than anyone else had, even me."  
"Don't be hard on yourself," X-Brawn told him. "We'd have found that hard to."  
"Yeah, he's a total snob anyway," added Grimlock.   
"I'd like to give him a right hook in his face for talking to you like that," Wedge exclaimed. Optimus chuckled.   
"Thanks Wedge but there's no need."  
"He'd scrap you anyway," grinned Heavy Load patting Wedge's shoulder. Wedge frowned and folded his arms defiantly. The others turned to Optimus and finally X-Brawn spoke again.  
"Well we can't just wait here while he searches," he told them. "Let's get out there." Numerous nods and verbal agreements erupted round the room even Koji and Tai were nodding their agreement.  
"Alright," Optimus responded. "Get out there and search."  
"Alright!" The team members all began to transform and began heading up the exit ramp and onto the road. Sky Line and the jets had to walk out first then transforming took to the air and disappeared over the horizon. Koji caught up with Side Burn just as he was about to leave.  
"Side Burn, can I come with you?" he asked. Side Burn paused thoughtfully and looked at Koji. Finally he opened his door and Koji got in.  
"Hold on tight," he told him slamming the door shut. Koji put his seatbelt on and Side Burns tyres screeched as he drove up the ramp and disappeared out of the parking lot and down the road. Optimus sighed and transformed himself. Better to help out, he thought to himself, rather then sit and do nothing. He drove up the ramp and left as it closed up behind him.  
  
The decepticons had taken the bullet trains out deep into the desert and had settled them near a rock, which they placed the hologram machine behind. It was quite small and easily hidden by the dirt and sand covered rock. The three trains looked up as Sky Byte came over to them again.  
"Comfy?" he asked again. The trains didn't answer.  
"Well," Sky Byte chuckled. "I surely hope you are comfy as you're going to be right in the front lines of this command performance."  
"What performance?" asked Rapid Run curiously and suspiciously. Sky Byte chuckled.  
"You'll see soon, as soon as your friends arrive." The trains hadn't a clue as to what he meant but they were sure they weren't going to like it. Roll Bar activated the machine and a holographic version of Ruination appeared in front of them, and they still had no idea as to what was going on. Another beam shot from a separate camera like lens and a duplicate of them appeared just behind them. It definitely looked like a trap, but a weird one. Sky Byte laughed as he looked at the two holograms.  
"Not bad," he mused. "Nice likeness."   
"Whatever," muttered Roll Bar. Sky Byte gave him a look but didn't feel like responding.  
"Come on," he ordered waving his hand. A few complaining mutters came from the decepticons and predacons alike, but they moved away anyway. The bullet trains watched as they disappeared and reappeared five minutes later on top of a near by cliff, all of them accept Gas Skunk. He'd gone off to tell the other autobots that they had the trains. Midnight Express looked at the two holograms, trying to figure out what sort of trap this was, but then an idea struck him.  
"This isn't a trap, it's a trick!" he exclaimed.  
"A trick?" asked Rapid Run. "What are you talking about?"  
"The holograms are to trick the others," Midnight explained. "They'll think we're over there and fight that hologram of Ruination thinking it's guarding us."  
"That means if they hit the hologram, they'll hit us," Rapid Run exclaimed suddenly catching on to what Midnight was getting at. Midnight nodded.  
"And we can't warn them," Rail Spike told them.  
"This is not going to be pleasant," Midnight Express said with a deep swallow. The other two nodded.  
  
Ultra Magnas was actually looking for the bullet trains, grumbling to himself as he went along. The giant autobot drove along the long roads outside of Metro City his tyres bumping and jumping over rocks in his path, throwing them up behind him as he went. He figured they'd most likely be held out here it was just perfect territory for the predacons and decepticons to hide something. He turned his gaze left and right until something caught his eyes, the two holograms stood tall and gazing around the desert area, but something was wrong.  
"This is such an obvious trap it's impossible to miss," Magnas muttered to himself. "It should be fun to see Optimus fall for it." He knew there were more enemies close by, he could sense it, but he could take any of them so he was worried. He turned his radio on and called back to the base.  
"Hey Optimus, are you there?" His image appeared on the screen back at the autobots headquarters but the only face he saw was Tai's.  
"Yes Magnas," she responded looking up at the screen.  
"I've found your friends at these coordinates, so you'd better get Optimus and those others you call autobots out here, but warn them it's most likely a trap." The coordinates flashed on a map as it came up on the screen so Tai could register them.  
"Thank you, I'll let them know," Tai responded trying to stop herself from blowing up at him. Magnas nodded and signed off. Magnas chuckled to himself,  
"Trap or not it's their problem not mine, I did my little good deed for Optimus today, it ends here." He turned and drove off.  
  
  
  
  
  
Chapter 4 coming soon. 


	4. The Final Curtain

Meanwhile the others were still out looking when Tai's voice came over the shared radio link.  
"Calling all autobots," she called. "Magnas has found the bullet trains at these coordinates." Every one of the autobots onboard computer screens showed them a map with a flashing red light on it, showing them the area and coordinates.  
"Well what do ya know," said X-Brawn. "Magnas came through."  
"Don't get overly pleased," Prowl warned. "That doesn't mean he's going to do anything else."  
"Magnas is his own autobot," Optimus told them over the radio as he turned around and headed towards the coordinates. "He'll do something when he's good and ready."  
"Even join us?" asked Side Burn carefully.  
"Maybe." Koji was incredulous as he listened to the radio transmissions. He was sitting in Side Burns passenger side and was holding tightly to the seat as the blue dodge viper turned sharply and headed back the way they'd come. Side Burn noticing the change in Koji's mood spoke to him,  
"Are you ok Koji?"  
"Yeah I guess so Side Burn," he responded. "But…" He went quiet considering what he was going to say. Side Burn and anyone who was listening over the radio link waited patiently. Finally Koji continued.  
"But I don't see why he has to be so rude. He hurt Optimus, he hurt you guys," he said aiming the explanation at Optimus and the brothers. "He has the nerve to try and steal the matrix through destroying you, and even now he acts rude and insubordinate."   
"But you said they were supposed to share it, or thought so," Tai told him over the radio.  
"Yeah I know," Koji responded. "But he still acts mean to his fellow autobots, way doesn't he just ask to help you lead Optimus? Especially if that's all he wants to do." Optimus had to think about that and that was taking quite a long time. In the end didn't need to as a female voice Koji was not used to came in over the radio.  
"Koji, it's not easy for someone who is so jealous of someone else to ask if they can share something. They will always want what that person has and one way or another they'll try and get it." Koji thought about that while looking at the screen on Side Burns dashboard. The face staring back wasn't Side Burns, but Rebounds. She had a very female voice, pretty ironic as she disliked being female and acted more like the male autobots.   
"For once she actually made a correct observation and sounded like a girl while making it," chuckled Breaker. More chuckles sounded over the radio, mainly from the newer members of the team. Rebound frowned angrily she hated that.  
"Don't let it bug you," Prowl told her over the radio. Rebound who at the time was driving on the left side of her older brother Breaker kept frowning. Side Burn laughed at the image he could see of her on his screen.  
"Personally I think she looks kinda cute like that." Rebounds frown vanished and was replaced by a blush.  
"Do my optical sensors deceive me or is our little sister blushing at a 'cute' comment?" asked Ricochet. The others all laughed, even Koji had to have a bit of a chuckle. He may not have known Rebound long like some of the autobots but the one thing that was universally known, was that Rebound disliked anything that could be conceded as a 'girly' or 'cute' comment or anything close. Optimus was only half listening to the fun the other autobots were having, he was too worried about team bullet train to really think about having fun himself. He was glad though that the others were finding a way to have fun even though this was a serious mission, it meant they would be able to take everything in their stride and would be able to handle the problem they were facing when they eventually faced it. What none of the autobots knew though, was that Gas Skunk was watching them head towards the coordinates.  
"Sky Byte, this is Gas Skunk. Looks like they already know about the trains."  
"Alright Gas Skunk, come back."  
"I wouldn't miss it," Gas Skunk laughed.  
  
The team were soon assembled, after choosing to take the global spacebridge to their destination. Sky Line and the jets didn't need it they'd gone ahead to scout out the situation and would soon be at the coordinates waiting for the others. Optimus drove ahead, leading the others down the spacebridge. Sounds penetrated his audio sensors, including Prowl and Side Burn once again arguing about something, and he was beginning to feel sorry for Koji who had come along sitting in Side Burns passenger seat. Rebound and Ricochet were once again having a sisterly spar, mainly Ricochet teasing Rebound about how she'd blushed at Side Burns comment from earlier and everything else was mainly normal chatter. He decided to check on Sky Line and the jets.  
"Sky Line come in," he called over his radio.  
"Sky Line here," whispered the helicopter. "What's up?"  
"How's everything going?" he asked.  
"We can see team bullet train and Ruination," he responded. "That guy gets worse every time we see him."  
"Now there's an obvious comment," said Night Spy over the radio. Optimus chuckled.  
"Ok, we'll be there soon, just stay where you are till you see us."  
"Understood." The radio went off and Optimus was once again left with the chatter from the rest of his team bombarding his audio sensors. X-Brawn came up to his side.  
"You ok Prime?" he asked worriedly.  
"Yes I'm fine X-Brawn. Just concerned about Rail Spike and the others."  
"You're turning into an old softy," X-Brawn told him. "What sort of leader turns into a softy?" Optimus gave him a look but X-Brawn just chuckled.  
"Seriously we'll save them we're the autobots aren't we?"  
"Yes, you're right X-Brawn, now I do feel for silly the way I've been acting." It was X-Brawns turn to give him a funny look and Optimus's turn to laugh. X-Brawn shook his computer image head and laughed as well.   
  
Finally the autobots drove out of the tunnel and appeared in the desert. As assumed Ultra Magnas was nowhere in sight, and the only things they could see were the holograms. The predacons and decepticons were watching from the cliffs above, making sure they weren't seen or they'd ruin the whole thing. Scourge knew this yet he still wanted a piece of Optimus and the autobot brothers, but he had no choice but to wait. Optimus drove forward and stopping, transformed. His autobot form towered over the others as they came up behind him and stopped. The autobot brothers transformed first, and the others followed them. They looked towards the holograms completely fooled by them they were solid and very lifelike. Masquerade, Night Spy and Sky Line landed beside the classicon brothers.  
"Any sign of Scourge and the predacons?" asked Optimus over his shoulder.  
"No," responded Night Spy. "Good thing to."  
"So it's just tall, dark and ugly?" asked Rebound.  
"Yup."  
"All right Ruination, we're here to take our team members back now step aside," ordered Side Burn.  
"Yeah he'll really respond to that," Cruiser whispered. Side Burn shot him a glare but the other autobot just grinned at him. Optimus stepped forward.  
"We will rescue them by force if need be," he told the hologram.  
"Is it just me or are we talking to a decepticon with limited intelligence?" asked Blitz-y who was sitting on High Class's shoulder.  
"What makes you think he has any intelligence to begin with?" asked Mini Bug.   
"You're probably right."  
"What are they doing?" asked Midnight Express.   
"They're being diplomatic in their own way," Rail Spike responded.  
"You call what Side Burn said diplomatic?" asked Rapid Run. Rail Spike and Midnight Express chuckled. The other autobots looked at each other as Ruination just stood there looking at them as if he had no clues as to what was going on. Rebound felt there was definitely something wrong; she was looking over at the hologram of the bullet trains and had noticed that they to seemed to be inanimate. What's wrong with this picture? She wondered quietly to herself. Optimus took another step forward.  
"Release them," he ordered again. Once again Ruination just looked at him. Optimus walked towards the giant robot carefully, curiously.  
"Careful Optimus," Prowl warned. "It could be a trap or a trick."  
"I know Prowl," he responded stopping a couple of meters away from the very solid hologram  
"I am trying to be diplomatic here," he told Ruination but we will use force to retrieve our team from behind you if necessary." Once again Ruination just stood there, the holographic weapon raised as if he were waiting confirmation to fire. The predacons and decepticons were watching from the cliff, noticing that this was going wrong the autobots would easily become suspicious and have a closer look. Luckily Gas Skunk was just arriving but Sky Byte waved him around. Gas Skunk didn't know why Sky Byte was so insistent on him going around so he was behind the hologram, but as soon as he was there his radio came on.  
"Gas Skunk, fire on the autobots a couple of times, or the plan won't work," Sky Byte told him.  
"Oh," said Gas Skunk realising what Sky Byte wanted done. He waited till Optimus went to move past the hologram and lifted his arm laser and aimed it towards the hologram. The bullet trains ducked instinctively as two blasts went through the hologram and hit the ground beside Optimus's and X-Brawns feet.  
"Diplomacy never works," X-Brawn announced taking a step backwards. "Come on Prime let's blow this guy back to Cybertron."  
"You're right X-Brawn."  
"Let us handle him," Wedge called from behind Prowl.  
"Hey, what about us!" exclaimed Back Fire coming up to Side Burns side. "Us bikes could take out that ugly scrap heap."  
"You?" asked Side Burn. "He's way bigger and stronger then you."  
"Alone he is," Breaker allowed. "Come on team, combiner mode."   
"Right!" The four bikes linked hands in a circle and began to separate.  
"V-Bike team combine." The four reconnected to form a tall autobot with a dark painted male head. Rebound and Ricochet made up the arms and torso and Back Fire made up the legs.  
"Phoenix arises!"  
"That's new," Midnight Express whispered in awe.  
"Yeah, and that new thing is going to blast us till we resemble Swiss cheese," Rapid Run informed him.  
"Oh yeah."  
  
The predacons and decepticons were also stunned, now they had three combiner autobots to deal with, well, two when they blew up the bullet trains.  
"This is going to be good," muttered Slapper. Phoenix stepped forward and lifted a laser from its back.  
"Phoenix fire laser," Phoenix ordered. Everyone expected a huge jet of flame to fire from the barrel of the huge weapon, but nothing happened.  
"Figures," whispered Shades.   
"What does?" asked Side Burn.  
"They haven't been able to combine for ages, not surprising things are a little rusty."   
  
In truth the weapon was just fine, the V-Bike team had made sure of that in their simulator training programme a couple of weeks ago. They were so sure it was the firing arms fault and not the weapons that the smaller CPUs were arguing.  
"Rebound would you fire already," Back Fire called to her. "Or did you forget that's the general idea when we hold up the weapon?" Rebounds CPU made her response sound like an angry growl as she responded,  
"Something's wrong here."  
"Yeah, you're that something now fire the weapon," Breaker snapped. But Rebound wouldn't pull the trigger.  
"I will override you and fire myself if I have to," he told her.  
"No wait," she responded. "I am scanning autobot signatures behind Ruination."  
"Of course you are," Back Fire responded. "The ones belonging to the bullet trains."  
"They aren't real," Rebound told them. "I scanned those, they have no signature neither does Ruination."  
"You mean they aren't real?" asked Ricochet.  
"Exactly. We've been tricked by holograms."  
"Then what do we shoot?" asked Breaker.  
"Well if we shoot Ruination I'm positive we'll shoot Rail Spike and the others."  
"And I'm detecting some strange device behind that rock," said Ricochet. She showed it to the others who also detected some strange electronic signature behind it.   
"What's going on?" asked Shades as they watched the inanimate autobot. Even the bullet trains were wondering what had happened. The combined autobot had just about been ready to fire on them, but the arm holding the weapon had lowered and refused to rise again.  
"Maybe he/she has broken down?" offered Side Burn. Suddenly to their amazement and the amazement of the bullet trains, the predacons and decepticons the combined autobot turned and lifted its weapon.  
"Phoenix fire laser!" A huge stream of red-hot flame tore through the air and struck the rock. The rock disintegrated under the extreme heat and strength of the laser, and the machine that had been behind it melted like cheese under a grill. The holograms flickered and vanished to reveal the bullet trains settled just where the hologram of Ruination had been. Gas Skunk was still standing there looking incredibly shocked, but that soon cleared and he soon moved as he found the combined autobot holding its laser right at him.  
"Go on, run you coward!" Phoenix called after him.  
"How did you know?" asked Optimus coming over. Phoenix turned and looked down at him.  
"Simple team work." Optimus nodded in understanding.  
"Now, how about we get you free?" The combined autobot strode over to the energon chain machine, picked it up and crushed it. The metal and circuitry crumpled under the firm grasp and the chains binding the bullet trains vanished. The autobot brothers moved over and helped them to stand.  
"Thanks Phoenix," Midnight called over.  
"Think nothing of it," he/she responded. "Now, where are the rest of those predacons and decepticons?"  
"I'll find them," Sky Line responded. He transformed and activated his engines. His rotors began to turn and he floated into the air.   
  
The predacons and decepticons groaned they were in for it now. The predacons were actually sneaking away, but Sky Line had already spotted them.  
"Up here Optimus, sneaking away like cowards." Side Burn turned and looked up at the cliff edge.  
"Then what's say we knock them off their perch? Exhaust backfire." His weapon fired and took out the cliff. The decepticons fell the whole length of the cliff and landed in a crumpled and tangled heap on the ground. Sky Byte and Dark Screen hovered above, as Slapper pulled himself to his feet. The autobots walked towards them, with the bullet trains walking in front.   
"Oh we're in trouble," whispered Dark Screen.  
"Err, speak for yourself!" exclaimed Sky Byte and took off.  
"I'll get him," Masquerade called.  
"No he isn't worth it," Prowl responded. Masquerade nodded and decided to aim her blaster at the floored enemies.  
"No, this one's ours," Rapid Run told her raising his hand to stop her. Masquerade nodded and waved them on. The trains walked forward calmly punching their fists into their hands. The decepticons and Slapper were making their way backwards until they came into contact with the base of the cliff. They were facing three huge robots and more behind them if they could get past them. Most of these autobots had a high-speed advantage and a select few a high strength advantage. They could fight back, but there were too many to have a fair fight.  
"What do you say we do gentlemen?" asked Midnight Express.  
"How about we fuse and send these guys flying?" asked Rapid Run.  
"You know, even though the circumstances aren't quite right, I say you have the right idea Rapid Run," Rail Spike told him.   
"Bullet Fusion Mode!" The three trains began to transform until they fused into a much bigger autobot.  
"Triple power! Rail Racer!" Rail Racer stood towering over all the autobots and their enemies, even Phoenix hadn't got anything on his height. He stepped forward and pulled his triple power gun out.  
"I'm out of here," Slapper exclaimed transforming and hopping away.  
"I think we had better follow fly breath," whispered Mega Octane. Scourge scowled under his metal mask, his eyes glowing a dangerous purple. He gave in though and transformed.  
"Next time Optimus." The other decepticons transformed and followed him as he drove across the desert. The autobots watched them leave and didn't even attempt to go after them.  
  
Later on as the autobots returned to Metro City, they discussed the day's events. Midnight Express who was riding along the hyper rail with Rapid Run and Rail Spike yawned.  
"I hope I never have a day like that again," he commented.  
"You hope?" asked Rail Spike. Midnight laughed.  
"Very much so." The others all laughed.  
"Oh, thanks for getting us out of that by the way you guys," Rapid Run called to the bikes.   
"You're very welcome," Breaker responded. "But it's best to thank Rebound, she's the one who figured out something was wrong."  
"Well, now we have this whole mess sorted out, let's get back to work," Optimus called.  
"Gladly," responded X-Brawn.   
"I'd better take you home to Koji," Side Burn told him.  
"I'm all for that," Koji responded and Side Burn headed off towards Koji's home. The autobots began to fan out, returning to their normal duties. The autobot brothers disappeared down their normal routes the classicon brothers were speeding off towards to their further routes. The sky patrol took off taking the tri spy team with them, and soon the only ones left were Optimus, the trains and the bikes. Ricochet was telling the bullet trains about the fun they'd been having on their way to rescue them. The three were laughing as she explained how Rebound had blushed at Side Burns comment.  
"The little lady actually has a lady side," Rapid Run chuckled. "Who'd have thought?" Rebound frowned.  
"Come on, that was a one off."  
"You sure of that Rebound?" asked Back Fire with a grin.   
"Well that's the last time I attempt to explain anything to anyone," she moaned.  
"You put it far better then I could've," Optimus told her.  
"Yeah well, next time I'll remember that."   
"Perhaps if you acted more like the girl you're supposed to be, maybe you'd find that you actually liked it," Rail Spike told her.  
"Maybe I would," Rebound responded. "Maybe." But as they got closer to headquarters she quietly thought, very doubtful though.  
  
  
  
  
  
End 


End file.
